Ron Clements

Ron Clements (born April 25, 1953 in Sioux City, Iowa) is an American animation director and producer.

He is one half of America's leading contemporary animation team with John Musker. Clements began his career as an animator for Hanna-Barbera. After a few months there, he was accepted into Disney's Talent Development Program, an animator training ground and workshop. After that, he served a two year apprenticeship with famed animator Frank Thomas, a supervising animator in classic Disney films such as "Peter Pan" (1953), "Lady and the Tramp" (1955) and "The Aristocats" (1970).

Clements made his feature debut as a character animator on "The Rescuers" (1977) and "Pete's Dragon" (1977). In 1981, he became the supervising animator on "The Fox and the Hound". Future partner John Musker worked as a character animator under him. Clements later teamed up with Musker as story artists on the ambitious animated flop "The Black Cauldron" (1985). In 1986, Clements made his directorial debut alongside Musker and two other collaborators on the feature "The Great Mouse Detective". This feature was based on a pre-Disney short made by Clements.

Together, Clements and Musker wrote and directed "The Little Mermaid" (1989), a touching retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen tale. With dazzling animation and Oscar-winning music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, it brought back critical and commercial clout for feature animation. Later on, the two wrote, directed and produced "Aladdin" (1992), which was an even larger success. They also directed "Hercules" (1997), which while not as successful as their last two films, was still well-received by critics and audiences.

Their next directorial collaboration would be the sci-fi "Treasure Planet" (2002), critics reviews were generally positive but it was unfortunately a commercial failure. The film lacked the songs and colorful characters which were crucial to the success of "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid" although he was nominated an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

However, after Disney's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, the studio has rekindled interest towards 2-D animation thanks to new leaders John Lasseter and Ed Catmull. A new upcoming 2-D animated feature, "The Princess and the Frog", is currently in development, with Musker and Clements directing and Randy Newman handling the music. The film promises to return to the Broadway-style musical which "Aladdin", "The Little Mermaid" and other successful Disney animated films of the late '80s and early '90s were.

Family

*Father: Joseph Clements
*Mother: Gertrude Clements
*Wife: Tami Clements
*Stepson: Marc Wilhite

Education

Art Center College of Design Pasadena, California

Awards & Nominations

*Academy Award Best Animated Feature (Nomination) "Treasure Planet" 2002
*Annie Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production (Nomination) "Treasure Planet" 2002
*Annie Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a Feature Production (Awarded) "Hercules" 1997
*Annie Best Individual Achievement: Producing in a Feature Production (Awarded) "Hercules" 1997
*Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Animation (Awarded) "Hercules" 1997
*Annie Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation (Awarded) 1993
*Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Animation (Awarded) "Aladdin" 1992
*Edgar Allan Poe Award Best Motion Picture "The Great Mouse Detective" (Nomination) 1987

Milestones

*1997 Co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced "Hercules" with partner John Musker
*1992 Co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced "Aladdin" with partner John Musker
*1989 Co-wrote and co-directed "The Little Mermaid" with partner John Musker
*1986 Made directorial debut with "The Great Mouse Detective" with partner John Musker
*1985 Credited as story contributor on "The Black Cauldron"
*1981 Credited as supervising animator on "The Fox and the Hound"
*1977 Feature debut as a character animator with "The Rescuers"
*Worked at Hanna-Barbera for several months as an animator
*Accepted into Disney's Talent Development Program
*Served a two-year apprenticeship under Frank Thomas (animation director of "Cinderella" 1950, "Alice in Wonderland" 1951 and other Disney favorites)

External links

*imdb name|id=0166256|name=Ron Clements